Formula One - Italian GP Race report

Monday, September 10, 2012 - 11:00

Even The Bad Times Are Good - Kimi P5, Jérôme P13

Kimi Räikkönen scored a strong fifth place in the Italian Grand Prix to move him into third position in the Drivers’ Championship after a hot and fast-paced race at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Kimi is now just one point off second-placed Lewis Hamilton, whilst the team falls to fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship. Jérôme D’Ambrosio made an impressive race debut for the team, finishing in thirteenth place despite having no KERS for most of the race.

Kimi started on used medium compound Pirelli tyres, stopping on lap 17 for new hards.

Jérôme started on new hard compound tyres, stopping on lap 27 for new mediums.

Kimi Räikkönen, P5, E20-05

"It’s good to go into third position in the Drivers’ Championship but we lost some points to Fernando [Alonso] which is not ideal. It was a difficult weekend as we were too slow in a straight line, making it very difficult to hold off anyone and even with the DRS it was difficult to overtake the cars in front. We did the one stop strategy and the tyres were fine. We came into the race looking for sixth or seventh so fifth is the maximum we could have done here this weekend.”

Jérôme D’Ambrosio, P13, E20-03

“It was a pretty long and difficult race for me today. After losing my KERS on lap 6 it was always going to be tough as that’s worth about half a second per lap around here. I got a good start and was up fighting with Daniel [Ricciardo] and Nico [Rosberg], but once I lost that extra boost it was impossible to keep up and I dropped back. My last stint on the medium tyres in clean air was pretty good and I didn’t make many mistakes, so maybe with a bit more luck we could have had a slightly better result. My main aim was to finish the race and I’ve achieved that so it’s not so bad overall. It was great to be back in the car and especially with such a fantastic team ; I’ve learnt a lot this weekend.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

"From this weekend I don’t think we could have expected better. The key to a good championship position at the end of the season is always scoring points, even when it is a difficult weekend. Kimi delivered exactly as we wanted from him today and moving to third in the standings is a just reward. We are still in contact with those ahead of us in both Championships with seven races to go. Jérôme did an amazing job after being thrown in at the deep end. Without his KERS issue I’m pretty sure he could have achieved a points finish. We are optimistic that from Singapore onwards we will be much more competitive due to the circuit layout and updates we have coming, meaning we will be able to score more points in every race.”